Filing cabinet



March 14, 1944. w. F. REGENHARDT 2,344,168

FILING CABINET Filed May 31, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 Il m J U I 42 INVENTOR 42 4 2 5 WdH'er F Regehhardi' E5 TQMMFXAJ;

a ATTORNEY March 14, 1944. w. F. REGENHARDT 2,344,168

' FILING CABINET Filed May 31, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR J L WdHerFRe9ehhdrd+ BY WWW- w;

ATTORN EY Patented Mar. 14, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FILING CABINET Walter F. Regenhardt, Wooster, Ohio Application May 31, 1941, Serial No. 396,000

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to file cabinets and the like, and more particularly to a drawer stop for file cabinets.

An object of the present invention is to provide a stop for drawers of file cabinets and the like, which stop positively prevents removal of the drawer from the cabinet during normal use of the drawer, but which may be caused to release the drawer by an unusual movement of the drawer, for example, by rotating the drawer about its longitudinal axis while the drawer is extended.

In carrying out the above object, it is an object of the present invention to provide an abutment adjacent a vertical edge of the drawer opening in the file cabinet and an abutment at the side and rear of the drawer, the latter abutment extending laterally sufiiciently to be in alignment with the abutment on the cabinet when the drawer is in normal use, but which can be moved out of alignment with the first mentioned abutment when the drawer is extended from the cabinet and rotated about its longitudinal axis.

A still further object of the invention is to arrange the abutments so that one of the abutments extends upwardly alongside the drawer substantially from the bottom of the drawer opening in the cabinet, and the other abutment being terminated above the lower portion of the drawer so that by withdrawing the drawer outwardly and tilting the forward end of the drawer upwardly, the bottom of the drawer can be en} tirely removed from the cabinet while the abutments are aligned, for permitting rotation ofthe drawer about its longitudinal axis for moving one of the abutments out of alignment with the.

other abutment.

Further objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred form of embodiment of the present invention is clearly shown. In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a view showing a file casing and drawer, the drawer being shown partly with; drawn from the casing, and a portion of the cars;-

ing being broken away;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view of the file casing with the drawer enclosed therein. the rear portion of the casing being shown broken away;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view, showing the file drawer extended from the casing, a portion of one side wall of the casing being shown removed: Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showin the drawer in an extended position in which the lower portion thereof is entirely removed from the casing;

Fig. 5 is a view in section, the section being taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a view in section, the section bein taken on line 66 of Fig. 4;

Fig. '7 is a view in section, the section being taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 3, but on a larger scale;

Fig. 8 is a side view of the casing and drawer showing the drawer rotated about its longitudinal axis and in a position in which it may be inserted or removed from the casing, certain parts of the casing being shown removed for the sake of clarity; and,

Fig. 9 is a view in section, the section being taken on line 99 of Fig. 8.

Referring to the drawings, for the purpose of illustrating'a preferred form of the invention, I have shown a file casing 20, which casing is adapted to receive a drawer 2| in which papers and the like may be filed. The casing 20 comprises a rectangular sheet metal sleeve 22, forming top, bottom and side walls. The rear'end of'the sleeve 22 is closed by a sheet metal wall 24, and thi wall is attached in the rear end of the casing by out-turned flanges 25 extending from the edges thereof. 25 are spot welded to the walls of the sleeve. A rectangular frame 26, preferably formed of a relatively heavy gauge steel band, is welded to the inner sides of the casing at the forward end thereof. The frame 25 maintains the forward end of the casing rigid, and it also provides two vertically extending abutments 28 at opposite sides of the opening in the forward end of the casing. Preferably, the edges of the abutments 28 formed by the frame 25 are rounded, as may be seen in Fig. '7.

The drawer 2| comprises a channel-shaped sheet metal member 30, having confronting side walls 3! and a bottom wall 32. The rear of the drawer is closed by a sheet metal wall 33, which wall ha two vertically and forwardly extending flanges 34 which overlap the end edges of the side walls 31 and are spot welded to the side walls. The bottom edge of the wall 33 is turned forwardly for forming a flange 35, which flange rests upon the bottom wall of the drawer and is welded thereto. I 33 is turned forwardly and downwardly as at 36 for reinforcing the wall. The forward end of the drawer is closed by a sheet metal wall 38, which wall is formed with rearwardly extending side flanges 39 and a bottom fiange, not shown.

These flanges overlie the forward ends of the Preferably, the flanges The top edge of the rear wall walls 3| and 32 and are welded to the latter. The upper part of the wall 33 is turned rearwardly and downwardly as at 40 for reenforcing the front wall of the drawer. A suitable handle 4| is attached to the outer side of the wall 38 of the drawer. The bottom wall of the drawer is provided with two depressed portions 42 which form gliders that support the bottom wall of the drawer from the bottom wall of the casing to minimize friction between the drawer and casing.

The drawer 2| is adapted to be received in the casing 20 through the opening in the forward end thereof, and the drawer and casing may form a unit of a file cabinet, which cabinet may comprise a number of casings similar to the casing 20, arranged in stacks.

In order to prevent the drawer 2| from being accidentally removed from the casing when the drawer is extended outwardly, I have provided two abutments 43 on the sides of the drawer and at the rear thereof. The abutments 43 comprise bulges 45 formed on two sheet metal strips 44. The bulges 45 are pocket-shaped, i. e., closed at one end and open at the other, and the strips 44 are welded to the flanges 34 of the rear wall 33 so that the open portions of the bulges 45 face forwardly. Preferably, the forwardly facing edges of the bulges 45 have a portion thereof cut back, as at 4'! (see Figs. 1, 2 and 3), for a purpose that will appear hereinafter. The strips 44 are disposed on the flanges 33 so that the bulges 45 will be above the top edges of the side walls 3| of the drawer iii. The bulges 45 extend laterally from the sides of the drawer so that when the drawer is in the casing and in normal use, these abutments will be in alignment with the abutments 28 on the casing formed by the frame 26. Thus, when the drawer is extended outwardly, the abutments 43 engage the abutments 28 and prevent the removal of the drawer from the casing. These abutments will engage one another regardless of whether or not the drawer sags due to the weight of the material filed therein, or whether the forward end of the drawer is tilted upwardly when the drawer is pulled to its fully extended position. This latter condition is illustrated in Fig. 4, wherein the rear lower portion of the drawer is out of the casing, but the edge 4'! of the abutment 43 engages the abutments 28. By providing the cut-back edge 41, a substantial portion of the edges of the abutments 43 will engage the abutments 28, thus minimizing the strain on the bulged material 45. It will be seen that regardless of an unintentional raising of the front end of the drawer, the drawer cannot be withdrawn completely from the casing.

In order to insert the drawer into the casing, the forward end of the drawer is raised above the casing and the upper portion of the rear wall of the drawer is inserted in the opening in the for ward end of the casing. Then by rotating the drawer about its longitudinal axis and moving the forward end of the drawer laterally with respect to thecasing, the abutments 43 will be moved out of alignment with the rectangular frame 25. This position of the drawer is illustratedin Figs. 8 and 9. The drawer may then be inserted further in the casing until the abutments 43 clear the frame 26, and then the drawer may be swung into alignment with the opening and slid rearwardly into the casing.

It will be noted that since the height of the side walls of the drawer is considerably less than the height of the casing, the drawer may be rotated about its longitudinal axis sufficiently to move the abutments 43 out of alignment with the abutments 28.

By extending the abutments 28 to the bottom of the casing and confining the abutments 43 to the central portion of the rear wall 24 of the drawer the bottom of the drawer may be completely removed from the casing and the drawer lowered below the bottom wall of the casing, while the abutments 43 and 28 are maintained in engagement, by extending the drawer outwardly and raising the forward end thereof. This is illustrated in Fig. 4. By removing the rear lower portion of the drawer from the casing, the drawer may be manipulated in the manner described hereinbefore for rotating it on its longitudinal axis.

When it is desirable to remove the drawer from the casing, it is only necessary to withdraw the drawer from the casing until the abutments 28 and 43 engage, and then by raising the forward end of the drawer and at the same time drawing the drawer forwardly, the bottom rear portion of the drawer is removedfrorn the casing so that the forward end of the drawer may then be moved out of alignment with the opening of the casing and the drawer rotated about its longitudinal axis for moving the abutments 43 outof alignment with the abutments 28. The drawer may then be removed entirely from the casing.

I prefer to form the rear wall 24 of the drawer 2| so that it extends very close to the top wall of the casing. Thus, when the drawer is extended from the casing and the weight of the material filed therein tends to cause the drawer to sag, the top edge of the wall 24 engages the inner side of the top wall of the casing for preventing excessive sagging of the drawer.

It is to be understood that in order to clearly illustrate the embodiment of the invention disclosed herein, the dimensions of certain of the parts of the casing and drawer have been greatly exaggerated, and therefore, the drawings are not necessarily in proportion.

It is apparent that by my invention I have provided a stop for a drawer of a file casing, which stop positively prevents the drawer from being accidentally removed from the file casing during normal use thereof, but which drawer may be removed entirely and easily from the casing by manipulating the drawer in a manner which cannot be performed inadvertently.

While the form of embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. In combination, a casing having an opening for receiving a drawer; a drawer slidable through said opening into the casing, said drawer including confronting side walls and a member at the rear thereof and extending above said side walls,

. said member being adapted to abut a wall of the casing when the drawer is extended and the front end thereof tilted downwardly for limiting said downward tilting; an abutment on the casing adjacent said opening; and a laterally extending abutment onthe drawer at the rear of the'latter and above the top edge of the side wall, said abutments being in alignment when the drawer is in the casing or extended outwardly from the casing normally, said abutments being out of alignment when the drawer is extended from the caslng, tilted upwardly forwardly and rotated about its longitudinal axis.

2. In combination, a casing having an opening in one end; a drawer slidable through the opening and into the casing, said drawer including confronting side walls; means forming abutments extending adjacent and along opposite vertical edges of the opening in the casing; and means forming an abutment on each side of the drawer adjacent the rear thereof, the upper margins of the side walls of the drawer terminating below the last mentioned abutments, the last mentioned abutments extending laterally with respect to the drawer and being in alignment with the first mentioned abutments when the drawer is in normal use, the second mentioned abutments being movable out of alignment with the first mentioned abutments when the drawer is rotated about its longitudinal axis, said drawer being rotatable about its longitudinal axis when it is extended out of the casing and the forward end thereof tilted upwardly.

3. In combination, a casing having an opening in one end; a drawer slidable through said opening and into the casing, said drawer having side walls, the top edges of said side walls terminating substantially below the top edge of the casing forming the opening, when the drawer is in the opening, whereby the drawer can be tilted upwardly, laterally with respect to the casing and rotated about its longitudinal axis when partially removed from the casing; an abutment on one side of the casing, said abutment extending inwardly; and an abutment on one side of the drawer adjacent the rear thereof, said second mentioned abutment extending outwardly and being disposed adjacent the upper margin of the respective side wall of the drawer, said abutments being in alignment with one another when the drawer is at rest in the casing and engageable with one another when the drawer is extended from the casing during normal use, the first mentioned abutment having a portion adjacent the bottom of the casing for engaging the second mentioned abutment when the drawer is extended and the forepart thereof is tilted upwardly.

\NALTER F. REGENHARDT. 

